Havana Says Policies Help Its Forests Thrive

Other news to note - Caribbean & Latin America

August 11, 1999

HAVANA - Cuba said Tuesday that successful environmental policies had increased forest coverage of the island to 21.5 percent of national territory, up from 13.4 percent before President Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Agriculture Ministry officials said the Castro government had planted 1.24 million acres of trees in the past four decades, particularly in the mountainous zones of the Sierra Maestra, Escambray and Sierra de los Organos. Cuba was nearly 90 percent covered by trees at the time of the 16th century Spanish conquest, but farming, mining and other activities gradually destroyed the forests.